The Eld stripped off his boots and drove a second set of spiked manacles into his ankles. The raw, searing pain left him breathless and dazed. Ellysetta wept openly, sobbing his name.

“What about her, Master Keldo?” the Apprentice Mage asked.

“Bind her hard,” the Primage answered. “Wrists, ankles, and throat. Master Maur said this one is dangerous.”

The apprentice Mage approached Ellysetta with heavy black manacles and chains.

“Leave her alone!” Rain ordered. He strained against his chains. “Do not dare to touch her.”

“The bindings will cause no permanent injury,” the Primage assured him. “But her magic will be contained.” He issued a sharp command, and several soldiers rushed to hold Ellysetta down as the apprentice clapped the spiked manacles into place around her wrists and ankles.

Ellysetta screamed and began to struggle. Panic grabbed Rain by the throat. He lunged forward, trying to reach her, dragging the four Eld soldiers holding his chains off their feet. Someone cracked him hard over the back of his head, and he collapsed facedown on the ground.

The Fading Lands ~ Chatok

Kieran could scarcely believe the “circumstances” that the captain of the gate had been referring to. Once again, Orest was under attack. This time with dragons to combat the tairen. Once again Rain had called for every warrior in Dharsa to head for the Veil.

And once again, proving that his incalculable stupidity knew no bounds, Tenn v’En Eilan had countermanded that order just as he had countermanded Rain’s order to defend Orest and the Garreval this summer.

To justify his command, Tenn had reminded the Fey that Rain was an outcast, a dahl’reisen stripped of his crown and banished for spinning Azrahn. He’d even gone so far as to warn that any Fey who chose to fight alongside their deposed king did so at his own peril and should expect no aid from the Fading Lands.

Kieran met Kiel’s gaze in grim silence. «That scorch-brained fool,» he hissed to Kiel on a private weave. «Teleon was destroyed, Orest nearly taken, and Tenn’s still hiding behind the Mists, thinking that will save us? How can he think dividing us will make us stronger?»

«We could head for Orest now,» Kiel suggested. «The shei’dalins can take Master Baristani and the girls the rest of the way to Dharsa without us. If we hurry, we could make the Veil in a little over two days. From the sounds of it, the Fey at Orest need every blade they can get.»

Kieran glanced at the girls standing alongside their father and the two shei’dalins. He wanted to head for Orest. His hands itched to hold his blades and feel the razor-sharp steel slice through Eld flesh and bone. He could almost hear the voices of his slain blade brothers at Teleon crying out for him to avenge their deaths.

He clenched his jaw and silenced them. «Nei,» he said. «Nei, the Feyreisa entrusted her family’s safety to us. I will not abandon that duty to another. We see them safe to Dharsa, and into my parents’ care. And then we head for Orest.»

«Agreed, but we need to move quickly. The sooner we reach Dharsa, the better.»

Kieran tugged at his lower lip. Where was a ba’houda steed when a Fey needed one? Celierians couldn’t run even half the speed of a Fey for more than a few chimes, and they tired much too easily. Kieran and Kiel didn’t have the strength to carry all three of them—and with a war on, the Garreval couldn’t spare a single warrior to help them.

A gust of sandy wind whipped a long scarlet veil off one of the shei’dalins. Kieran watched it swirl and tumble through the air, with the shei’dalin running in pursuit, and his lips curved in a slow smile.

«I think I have an idea. Wait here.» Turning, Kieran jogged back into Chatok, returning a few chimes later with a pile of blankets he’d filched from the barracks. He set the blankets on the ground and summoned his Earth magic.

Lillis watched his weave with interest. “A carpet?”

Kieran gave her a grin. “Lillis, kem’alia, haven’t you ever heard the story about the Feraz desert boy and his magic, flying carpet?”

Her eyes widened. “Oooh. We’re going to fly?”

He laughed. “Aiyah, you are. Hop aboard. You, too, Master Baristani and Lorelle. Kabei. Now, hold on.” Kiel and he combined their powers in an Air weave strong enough to lift the carpet several handspans above the sand. Another simple weave propelled the levitating carpet through the air. Soon, the flying carpet and its riders were racing across the sands towards Dharsa, with Kieran, Kiel, and the shei’dalins sprinting swiftly alongside.

Eld ~ North of the Heras

When Rain awoke, he was collared as well as manacled. The heavy metal yoke around his neck wasn’t spiked like the manacles, but it blistered his skin, constricted his airway, and made breathing an effort. Even if he managed to break free of the Eld, there was no way he could run or fight with the collar limiting each breath to shallow, hard-won gasps.

Ellysetta lay beside him in the dirt, curled into a small, trembling ball. Her eyes were closed, her breathing shallow and labored. Both her wrists and ankles were bound in heavy sel’dor and a matching collar circled her neck, attached to a thick chain. Rain’s gaze followed the length of hated black metal links to the Eld soldier holding the other end of the chain.

He couldn’t have been out for very long. They were still in the forest. If much time had passed, he and Ellysetta would already be halfway to whatever foul den the High Mage called home.